The present invention relates to a device for bridging expansion joints in road ways, with an extruded matting, made of elastomer, which bridges the joint, of the type wherein each longitudinal edge of the matting, parallel to the roadway is held in a groove formed in a retainer profile along the edge, the groove being open at the top, and wherein ribs formed in the matting fit precisely into the groove and essentially fill it completely, leaving only an anchoring space.
A device of this type is known from European Patent Application 86 277 B1. The known device has a matting with an extrudable cross-sectional shape. Each of its ribs, which project downward, fits into a groove in a retainer profile, which groove is open at the top. The retainer profile is anchored in the concrete substructure of the roadway. The matting completely covers the retainer profile, and by means of the side edges connects flush with the surface of the roadway. However, this connection is exposed to the direct drumming of the traffic rolling over it, which can lead to early fatigue of the elastomer of the matting and consequently to a tearing of the matting out of the anchoring. In addition, by virtue of their function, the ribs, which engage behind a sideways projection of the retainer profile, do not fill the grooves completely; this facilitates a deformation of the matting edge under the wheel load, the result being, once again, an early fatigue of the elastomer material.